
Emerging Trends and Careers
– Musings of Dr. Jamie C. Hsu, 10.8.2018
Due to fast-changing technologies and social and political shifts, people are wondering what the impact will be on their careers and jobs. Many articles and books are discussing this topic. The following are my observations and thoughts.
The top ten influencers on business, job, and career are listed in the first chart. One can readily see these new trends are happening right in front of our eyes. Many businesses are already transforming themselves to survive the onslaught of online commerce (Amazon, Alibaba) and shared economy (Uber, AirBnB). Car companies are becoming mobility companies in the era of autonomous driving, connected vehicles, internet, and electrification. Telework and ubiquitous workstations/offices have allowed many white collar workers to become free agents or talents for hire, rather than be company employees. The whole supply/value chain is being revamped due to a different business model and trade policy.
As a consequence, jobs and careers will be different in the coming decades. We will still have the “I-type” experts who work in a large company and focus on a specific and narrow field, such as accounting, mechanical engineering, and others. But there will be more ambitious “T-type” people who create platforms or systems for others to work in. For the more entrepreneurial-minded “/-type” people, they will provide solutions from cross-functional fields to satisfy consumers’ needs. And lastly, there are the “@-type” agents, who will connect people together to work on projects of mutual interest. Depending on the type of career, the educational needs and self-learning capabilities will be quite different.
As you can see, with the emerging trends, the traditional jobs of salesperson, market researcher, engineer, analyst, HR, planner, auditor, controller, etc. may not fit neatly in the new business world. Value and capability, not title or position, will define future careers and jobs.
A better way to think about one’s job or career is to define one’s value proposition in the new business model and value chain. How and what one can contribute uniquely and creatively will decide his/her career path and success. It will take time and effort to chart careers in the new era. Best wishes.


新趨勢及新職業
-作者 許俊宸博士
-中譯 薛乃綺
人們對於因為技術快速演進、以及社會政治的轉變,所造成在工作上或職業上的影響感到徬徨猶疑。許多報章雜誌也正在討論這個議題。以下是我的觀察與想法。
列在第一張圖中是10个對商務、工作與職涯造成重大影響的因素。人們可以很容易地看到這些新趨勢正在自己的眼前發生。許多企業已經在做轉變,去适應線上商務(如Amazon、Alibaba等)以及共享經濟(如Uber、AirBnB等)。汽車公司則因為自動駕駛、車聯網、網絡、電動化趨勢,逐漸轉變成行動服務公司。遠距工作平台及無所不在的工作站/辦公據點,允許眾多白領工作者成為自由工作者或受聘僱的專業技能者。由於不同的商業模式與貿易政策,整個供應鏈/價值鏈正在改變。
因此,未來幾十年的就業和職務將會有很大不同。我們仍將會有”I型”專家,鎖定在特定的專業領域,如會計、機械工程等。也會有更多有野心的”T 型”人,為大家創造平台或系統。還有更多心懷”/ 型”的创業家,他們將提供跨領域的解決方案,以滿足消費者的需求。最後還有”@ 型”的代理商,他們会把人們連繫在一起,致力於共同感興趣的項目。因为職業類型的不同,所需要的教育和自學能力也將大不相同。
如你所看到,隨著新興趨勢的發展,像是銷售員、市場研究員、工程師、分析師、人力資源師、計畫員、審計員、控制員等傳統工作,未來可能無法完全融入到新的商業世界。未來的職務和工作將根據價值與能力來定義,而非頭銜或職位。
思考一個人的工作或職業的更好方式,是在新的商業模式及價值鏈中,去定義他能产生的價值。一個人將如何及做什麼獨到及創造性的貢獻,將決定他/她的職涯道路的成功。
在這個新時代,去追求新的職業生涯是需要花費時間與精力的。祝你成功。